Blog:Arkansas set for vote that could end dry spell

The US state of Arkansas goes to the polls on 4 November to decide whether to outlaw so-called “dry” counties, meaning ones that don't allow any alcohol sales.

About half of the state's 75 counties are alcohol free, and the practice, which dates from Prohibition days, is still in force in a number of US counties, including, famously, Moore in Tennessee, the home of Jack Daniel's.

Here's a useful guide, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, that shows the wet and dry areas in the US, for the time being, at least. Red counties are dry, blue are wet and in yellow counties, alcohol sales are either partly prohibited or they contain towns that are dry.

It may not be scientific, but the third Monday in January has been coined 'Blue Monday' - the most depressing day of the year. Dreamed up in the UK by a psychologist commissioned by a holiday company ...